


Never Have I Ever Had a Boy in My Bed

by crystalkei



Series: Never Have I Ever Actually Fallen In Love [9]
Category: Never Have I Ever (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalkei/pseuds/crystalkei
Summary: Devi goes to therapy to talk about her swimming fear, there's a party, Eleanor dyes Trent's hair, the cops break up the party, and then there's cuddling and feelings! Lots happening here!
Relationships: Paxton Hall-Yoshida/Devi Vishwakumar, Trent Harrison/Eleanor Wong
Series: Never Have I Ever Actually Fallen In Love [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761826
Comments: 17
Kudos: 83





	Never Have I Ever Had a Boy in My Bed

**Author's Note:**

> This took longer than expected and...ended up being longer than expected but oh well here we are.

“I’m afraid of swimming pools but I’m not afraid of school and I need to figure out why.” 

McEnroe: Devi busted into Dr. Ryan’s office, ready to get this over with. She’d started to appreciate therapy and even felt like Dr. Ryan helped her make progress with her grieving. Devi hadn’t ditched her friends or done anything stupid in a while, right? She hadn’t seen her dad standing at the fridge or in coyote form, she was even getting along better with her mom. Never mind that she was lying about her relationship with Paxton to her mom, but that wasn’t that bad and her mom had really made that a necessity because of the way she hated Paxton. But that’s not what she needed to talk to Dr. Ryan about. 

“Nice to see you, too, Devi,” Dr. Ryan said as Devi sat down.

“So what do you think, why am I not scared of school?” Devi asked again, she’d been thinking about this all week (since she had tried to swim with Paxton) and it was starting to annoy her that she couldn’t figure this out. 

“I didn’t know you were scared of swimming pools.” 

“Yeah, duh.” Devi took a pillow from the couch and hugged it to her. 

“Can you elaborate on that?” 

“My legs stopped working in a swimming pool. Remember?” That was a little insulting, her therapist didn’t even make the connection. “Keep up.” 

“They did, but you’ve never said that you don’t like swimming pools. Have you been avoiding swimming pools?”

“Not really. Kind of. I’ve had some run ins, or fall ins.” Devi cringed. “Specifically one fall in. At Ben Gross’ party I fell in. But Paxton rushed over to help me so it wasn’t that big of a deal.” 

Devi had not told Dr. Ryan about her relationship with Paxton so she hoped that she didn’t latch onto that detail from months ago. 

“Is that when you figured you were scared of pools?” Dr. Ryan asked, gently. 

“No, I was pretty okay then. I had other stuff happening so I didn’t really notice.” Devi considered, hugging the pillow tighter to her, when she had discovered this fear. “I don’t know when I figured it out but I’ve been trying to get into a pool just to like, hang out with my friends and I can’t get past the edge.”

“Since it’s summer, that’s probably becoming a problem.” 

“Yeah but what I’m saying is that my dad died at school and my legs stopped working at school but I’m not afraid of school and I am afraid of pools so what’s up with that? How does that work? What’s all screwed up in my brain, doc?” 

Devi was frustrated. She wanted to be able to swim with her friends and her smokin’ hot boyfriend and yet she couldn’t figure it out. 

“There’s nothing screwed up in your brain,” Dr. Ryan assured her. “I don’t know why you’re not afraid of school but if I had to guess…” 

McEnroe: Dr. Ryan paused. Devi did not like the way she paused. Sure, it was probably to gather her thoughts so she could offer Devi some genius insight, but Devi hated it when there was silence during therapy. She didn’t like being in that office with her thoughts. It was unnerving. 

“From what I know about you, from what you’ve told me, you gain a lot of your self worth from school. It sounds like your academic accomplishments propel you forward and you consider that a big part of who you are. You’re a smart girl. How am I doing?”

“Pretty good, that all sounds like me,” Devi said, feeling confident because, of course, she built her self worth around school. Nothing wrong with that! Parents and teachers loved that! 

“Would you say that school is a safe place for you?”

Devi picked at the hem of the pillow. “Sometimes I get teased or whatever but it’s nothing I can’t handle and overall, yeah, I think school is a safe place. I feel comfortable there.” 

“You’re in your element at school.” 

“Yes!” Devi nodded. 

“So even though your dad passed away at the school concert,” Dr. Ryan spoke gently now and Devi wondered if she was about to drop a bomb. “Even though your legs stopped working at the school pool building, you haven’t been scared or uncomfortable at school since, it’s still a comfortable place?”

“It took a lot of time for me to adjust back into orchestra,” Devi offered. 

“That’s fair,” Dr. Ryan responded. “Have you had problems feeling comfortable otherwise?”

“No.” She answered quickly but then went over it again in her head. Maybe she was missing something?

“Well, I think that you’re not afraid of school because that’s your wheelhouse. That’s the place you excel. You’ve built your sense of self off of your academic achievements and that’s good for a teenager. You take pride in your work and you have goals about academics after high school.”

Devi felt a surge of happiness. Dr. Ryan validated her feelings and Devi felt accomplished. Of course, she should be comfortable at school. That’s where she thrived and that was good. There was nothing wrong with that being her identity. 

“What should I do about the pool though?”

Dr. Ryan took a deep breath and tilted her head in thought. “Why do you think you can’t get in the pool?”

“I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking you!” she snapped, but Devi instantly felt bad. “Sorry. But I don’t know why! My dad didn’t die in a pool. My legs work again. I don’t understand what could be holding me back.”

“Maybe you aren’t ready yet?” Dr. Ryan paused, probably waiting for Devi to say something, but when she didn’t, Dr. Ryan continued. “Maybe you need to keep trying. That’s what I’d suggest. Warm up to it. Hang out with your friends on the edge and then see if you can get in little by little, maybe start on the steps and move down slowly, step by step.” 

“That’s what Paxton said too, he was like ‘we’ll just keep trying whenever you’re comfortable, yada yada yada.’” 

“Were you just doing an impression of him?” Dr. Ryan asked, smiling. 

“Yeah, but it’s fine, that usually makes him laugh when I do it,” Devi said without thinking. 

“Are you hanging out a lot with Paxton?” 

McEnroe: Dr. Ryan finally caught on. Oh shit.

“No.” 

If she knew Devi was lying, she didn’t say anything. She just stared at Devi, waiting for her to say more, which Devi should have known was a therapist thing. They probably taught it on day 1. 

“Well kinda. But he’s a lifeguard so obviously I think about him when discussing the pool. He’s trying to help me get over it but the other day I ended up sobbing while he rubbed my back and I felt really stupid because I should just be able to get in a pool! It’s not a big deal!” 

Dr. Ryan raised one eyebrow. Oh shit. Was she gonna tell Devi’s mom about this?

“Sounds like he was being supportive,” Dr. Ryan said, pausing for Devi to keep talking. 

“Yeah,” Devi almost teared up thinking about it. 

“Paxton is the swimmer, do I remember that correctly?”

“Yeah, freakin’ captain of the swim team. Rock hard abs. I didn’t know it before but oh my god, his shoulders are a muscle-y highlight I didn’t even consider. It’s a lot,” Devi sighed. 

Dr. Ryan pressed her lips together and looked concerned. 

“So he’s comfortable in pools and you’re trying to get over your fear to get closer to him?”

Devi scoffed. “No, I don’t need to get closer to him, I’m pretty damn close since-” 

She stopped and bit her lip. Devi looked down at the pillow on her lap and fluffed it up to put it back next to her on the sofa. She cleared her throat.

“Are we out of time now?” she asked, desperate to get out of the office. 

“We have a few more minutes,” Dr. Ryan answered and gave her a half smile. 

“I’m not trying to get over my fear because of Paxton, I would love to hang out in the pool with him but I can hang out with him in other places so that doesn’t matter. It’s not about him. It’s about me. And my dead dad, Dr. Ryan.” 

Dr. Ryan looked over Devi’s shoulder at the clock. “Alright then. I guess we’ll discuss it more next week.” 

Devi sighed with relief, got up, and left. 

\--

**Paxton:**

There’s a party at Zoe’s house tonight. Can you sneak out?

**Devi:**   
  
Dude! My mom is going to some botox conference tonight. I was gonna see if you wanted to come over but yeah let’s go to the party. 

**Paxton:**

Sick. Text me when you’re ready. How’d therapy go?

**Devi:**

It went.

**Paxton:**

Lol okay

**Devi:**   
  
I’m not afraid of school because Dr. Ryan said I’ve built my entire personality around school and it’s like my comfort zone. But no movement on the pool situation.

**Paxton:**

I like that your personality is a super smart girl who can kick anyone’s ass at geometry. Princeton is gonna like that too.

Devi sent some blowing kisses emojis and tried not to obsess over the fact that he really, truly, got her. 

\--

“Devi,” Nalini shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “Devi, I’m leaving, come down!” 

  
McEnroe: The botox conference was actually the Convention of California Dermatologists and it was a four day conference in San Francisco. Nalini hadn’t gone to a conference of this length, this far away, since before Mohan died and she’d considered canceling right up until the moment she loaded the car. She was worried that Devi would choose this weekend to do something stupid and she worried that Kamala might turn on the air conditioning. (Spoiler alert: she was definitely going to do that.) But most of all, Devi’s mom worried that something terrible might happen like an earthquake or a hail storm, something that she’d be too far away to do anything about. 

But the conference had asked her to speak on a psoriasis study she’d been involved in and as worried as she was, she really wanted to talk about that funky skin condition. 

Devi came down, wrapped in her bathrobe. She’d been getting ready for the party at Zoe’s and obviously couldn’t let her mom see that. So the bathrobe. A classic cover up. 

“I’ve already told Kamala but I’m telling you again,” Nalini started and Devi groaned. 

“Mom, I know. No boys, no pizza, no friends, no fun while you’re gone, we already went over this!” 

“I never said you couldn’t have pizza, I said don’t order from Pizza Hut because I don’t trust that place, they always put too much sauce, it gives you heartburn and it always takes forever for it to get here. I’m looking out for you!” Nalini narrowed her eyes. Maybe she should just stay home. 

Devi picked up on the vibe and quickly adjusted. 

“We’ll be fine,” Devi said, taking her mother’s elbow and guiding her to the door, before lowering her voice. “If Kamala turns on the AC, you can adjust it with your phone, just like I taught you on the app.” 

“That’s a good point,” Nalini said, pulling the keys out of her purse. “Be good, Devi, I don’t want a phone call that you’re in the hospital or drunk or dead.” 

“Thanks for including dead on the list, mom,” Devi said, genuinely.

Nalini held Devi’s face in her hands, and smiled. “Be good.” 

“Of course,” Devi said. 

Nalini looked at her hand on the way out. “Is that foundation?”

“Just haven’t taken off my makeup,” Devi yelled from the door. 

“No boys! Not even if the toilet is clogged!” Nalini shouted from the car as she pulled out.

“Yes, mom!” 

McEnroe: Devi was definitely lying. 

On the way to the party, Devi explained to Paxton the rundown Kamala had given her. 

“She was like, ‘don’t do anything stupid at the party like get bit by a coyote, your mom will kill me and i’ll never cover for you again’ but c’mon, she’ll cover for me ‘til the day she dies because she’s actually too nice not to.” 

“It’s not like you’ve never covered for her,” Paxton added as he parked. 

It was a hike from the car to Zoe’s house, and as they walked, Devi took Paxton’s hand, lacing her fingers with his. Dr. Ryan was so wrong. Devi didn’t need to get into a pool to be close to Paxton. She was close to Paxton all the time and the implication would have been insulting...if she had told Dr. Ryan the truth.    
  
“Hey, do you know how to drive?” Paxton stopped before opening the door to Zoe’s house. 

“No,” Devi said, scrunching up her face. “My mom won’t even let me get my permit.” 

“Yeah okay, so I’m not going to drink then.”   
  


“Did you want to? It’s not swim season so oh, you probably want to?” 

“It’s no big. Trent and I usually trade off so I’ll just drink the next time.” He tugged on her hand and opened the door. 

They navigated through tons of people from school, Paxton stopping here and there to say hi or wave. But at the back of the house, in the kitchen, both of them stopped dead in their tracks. 

“Uh, Eleanor, what are you doing?” Devi asked. 

Trent was on a barstool in the middle of the kitchen, half his hair in a messy bun on the top of his head, Eleanor had what looked like a paintbrush, brushing something onto Trent’s hair. Trent held a towel around his neck and smiled wide when he saw them. He lifted his beer in greeting. 

“Dudes! You made it!” 

“Sit still!” Eleanor demanded. 

“What are you doing?” Paxton narrowed his eyes, looked at Devi and looked back at Trent and Eleanor. 

“She’s dying my hair! We found this red hair dye in Zoe’s parents’ bathroom and Eleanor was like-” 

“I don’t have supplies or time to bleach his hair first but the red is dark enough that he’ll have a nice red tint to his hair!” She spoke without looking up from his hair, completely concentrated on the task at hand. 

McEnroe: I gotta admit this is a twist I did not see coming. 

“This is weird, right?” Paxton whispered to Devi. 

“So weird.” Devi turned back to Eleanor and Trent. “Where’s Oliver?”

“Hmmm?” That got Eleanor’s attention. Her head snapped up. “I last saw Eve and Fab in the dining room, I think they’re making out.” 

“Good for them,” Trent said, trying to turn to respond to Eleanor but she straightened his head. 

“Stop moving!” 

“I asked where Oliver was, Eleanor,” Devi pressed again.

Eleanor didn’t look up this time, she dipped her brush into the bowl of hair dye on the counter and kept working. Someone shot a nerf dart over Paxton and Devi’s head, Paxton pulled Devi closer to him and gave whoever shot the gun the finger. 

“He’s not here,” she answered, quietly, still not looking up from Trent’s hair. 

“Did you guys break up?” Trent did manage to spin his head around and look at her and almost got a face full of hair dye. “I will murder that dude, I will break him in half!”

Eleanor scoffed, reached around Trent’s head and moved it back so he was facing forward. He went without a fight. She was determined.

“I broke up with him, and no don’t beat him up, that’s strange and unnecessary, why would you do that? It’s just not working for me anymore. I don’t want to talk about it!”    
  


Devi moved closer into the kitchen, dragging a bar stool to sit right next Trent, so she could talk to Eleanor. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, concerned. 

“I’m fine. It’s no big deal. I just got bored.” 

“I don’t usually dye someone else’s hair after a breakup,” Paxton offered, leaning against the bar.

“I will beat him up. I don’t know why but I’ve never liked that little twerp.” Trent held tighter to the towel around his neck. 

McEnroe: I think we all know by now, why Trent never liked Oliver. 

Devi grabbed a drink from the counter and handed it to Eleanor, she took a swig of the cup, emptying it, and handed it back to Devi. 

Trent raised his hand like he was in class. 

“Yes, Trent,” Eleanor asked. 

“How long will this stuff be on my hair and do you want another drink?” 

“Yes and I have to finish putting it on your hair before we can even start the timer,” she answered. 

“Paxton, get the girl a drink, actually get us all drinks. We’re gonna be here a while, she hasn’t even gotten half my hair yet.” 

Paxton looked behind him and saw a table of drinks in the dining room so he ran for them. By the time he picked up a couple of beers, he noticed Fabiola and Eve in the corner, they were indeed, making out. 

“Hey!” He waved, trying to get their attention, it worked and Fabiola looked at him annoyed. 

“What?”

“Did you guys know that Eleanor and Oliver broke up?” Paxton asked. “Because she’s over there dying Trent’s hair and acting kinda weird.” 

“Yeah, I heard.” Fabiola wiped at her face and Eve adjusted her shirt. “She said she’s fine though.” 

“Of course she is, she likes Trent,” Eve said as if it was obvious. 

“She does what?” Fabiola’s voice went up three octaves. 

“Yeah, I’m getting that vibe too,” Paxton said. “I think Trent likes her too.” 

“Why is this weird? We’ve all been hanging out for weeks, since you and Devi started dating, why are you guys surprised?” Eve asked. 

Paxton shrugged. “Uh, sorry to interrupt.” 

“It’s fine, I didn’t know everybody was here,” Fabiola said as Eve took her hand. They followed Paxton back to the kitchen. 

“I’m fine!” Eleanor told Devi again. “What? I’m gonna marry my first boyfriend? I’m an actress, I can’t be tied down like that. Did Meryl Streep marry her high school boyfriend? No! We’re in high school. We’re not gonna be with these people forever!” 

Devi looked at Paxton and he looked away for a second before handing her the beers. She thanked him and offered the second one to Eleanor. She took it and used her other hand to pull out the clip that was holding the rest of Trent’s hair on top of his head before taking a drink. 

Trent tried to turn around again and Eleanor grunted.    
  
“Stop moving your head, Trent!” 

“Sorry,” he said, chastised. 

“What shampoo do you use?” Eleanor asked, the brush back in her hand, painting down a strip of this hair. 

“Uhhhh whatever my mom put in the bathroom.” 

“We’ve got to switch you to the Curly Girl Method,” Eleanor kept going. “Probably a no poo system. We’ll go to Ulta later and get you some stuff.”    
  
“Whatever you say, E.” Trent smiled like an idiot and took another drink. 

In the other room, the loud sound of a Pixar movie opening shook the walls. 

“Is that Finding Nemo?” Devi nearly jumped over the counter to run towards the noise. 

Paxton followed her and they ended up, wedging into a spot on the corner of the couch.    
  
“I didn’t mean to play it,” some sophomore was standing embarrassed next to the couch with the remote in his hand. 

Paxton took the remote and started fastforwarding.    
  
“What are you doing?” someone asked, annoyed. 

“You can’t watch the first five minutes of the movie, what’s wrong with you monsters? You want to see Nemo’s mom  _ die _ ?” Devi shouted from her spot on the couch. 

McEnroe: Paxton assumed everyone knew you shouldn’t watch the first five minutes. He was sure he hadn’t ever seen the first five minutes of the film. And you know what? He’s right. We know what happened, we know it helps you understand why Marlin is overprotective of Nemo, but c’mon Pixar, that would have been better served as a Star Wars style scroll. No need to make us all cry. Yes, I cried. If you didn’t cry, you’re probably a serial killer.

By the time Marlin had met up with Crush on the EAC, Devi was almost asleep, leaning against Paxton, he was alternating between scrolling on his phone and watching the movie, content to be where he was. 

“Come to a party to watch a kids’ movie, you’ve really sunk on the social ladder.” 

Paxton turned to see Ben Gross, judging him. He looked down at Devi, her eyes were closed and her breathing steady. He considered moving her, the couch had cleared out, but not now. 

“You need something, Gross?” 

“Not from you,” Ben came back. But it wasn’t the burn Ben hoped for and Paxton was unbothered. 

“Have you ever tried being nice to people?” Paxton asked.

“Why would I be nice to you?” 

“I’m not talking about me, man, I don’t give a fuck, you’re not a person I spend anytime thinking about. I mean in general, you might actually make friends.” 

Ben frowned and walked off. 

McEnroe: It seems like Paxton is genuinely a nice guy and I don’t know how to feel about that, myself. Anyway, whatever happened to Trent and Eleanor? And what happened to...uh oh.

“Cops!” 

Devi heard the shouting before she heard the sirens. Paxton coaxed her up and was pulling her out the back door and through the gate and before she understood what had happened, she was back in the Jeep. 

“Why aren’t you driving away?” she asked, scrubbing her eyes. “Wait, Fab? Eleanor?”

“Eve and Fabiola left a little after you fell asleep,” Paxton said, starting the car. He held the headrest of her seat and searched the crowd of running kids. “This is why I always park down the street for Zoe’s parties.” 

“Why?”

“Her uncle is a cop and every damn time her parents go out of town, it always gets busted by cops.” 

“Wait, why did we even go then? What is wrong with popular kids?” Devi started to panic. If her mom found out about this she’d be dead. Then her mother would resuscitate her and kill her again. “This is an event you just stop attending if this is always the outcome!” 

The backdoor opened and Devi screamed. 

“It’s me!” Trent shouted, his hair in a shower cap, and pulling Eleanor in with him. 

“Why didn’t you say that’s what we were waiting for?” Devi shouted at Paxton. 

“Chill, are you always this cranky when you wake up?” 

“Yes! When cops are involved!” Devi smacked Paxton’s arm as he pulled out slowly, safely, and quietly to avoid the cops down the street at Zoe’s house.

“Every goddamn time,” Trent muttered from the back of the Jeep. “I can’t go home right now, we gotta wash this shit out of my hair.”    
  
“Oh! We do! If it’s on too long your hair could fall out!” Eleanor added, wedging herself in between the two front seats. “We don’t want his beautiful hair to fall out.” 

McEnroe: Eleanor was pretty drunk. But so was Trent. Nothing could go wrong there, right? Good thing Paxton was the one driving. 

“Text Rebecca to see if my parents are asleep yet, we can go to the garage.” Paxton handed her his phone.    
  
“No, that’s dumb, we can just go to my house. My mom isn’t there, Kamala won’t care.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes.”

“Uh,” Paxton reached over and took Devi’s hand in his and tilted his head, motioning for her to look in the back seat. 

Devi looked back and quickly looked away. Eleanor and Trent were kissing. Really going at it. 

“What is going on?” Devi whispered. 

“I’m not really sure, I just wish they weren’t doing it right now,” Paxton whispered back. 

Eleanor moaned and Devi shook her head. “You have got to drive faster.”

Paxton nodded, keeping his eyes firmly on the road, and turned the radio up. 

When they got to the Vishwakumar house, it was harder than they expected to get Eleanor and Trent out of the backseat. But after some reminders about hair dye, and maybe Devi snapped the elastic on Trent’s shower cap, they made it in the house. 

Kamala came down the stairs quickly, glasses on and her hair slightly askew, but she still looked hot and Devi took a moment to glare at her over it. 

“What’s happening?” Kamala asked from the bottom of the stairs. “Why does that boy have a hairnet on?”

“It’s a shower cap! I dyed his hair and we need to wash it out!” Eleanor said, getting right in Kamala’s face. 

Kamala covered her nose. “Oh my, she’s very drunk.” 

“Trent too.” Devi explained. “They’re just gonna hang out until they’re sober enough for Paxton to drive them back to their cars at the party.”

“Don’t let them make a mess,” Kamala nagged. “And if that hair dye stains the sink you have to clean it, your mother will notice.”

“I told them to use the laundry room sink and since I did tie dye in there the other day she won’t know.” Devi went for the fridge. “Is there anything good to eat? I’m hungry.”

“There’s leftovers.”

“I don’t want leftovers,” Devi whined. 

“Make yourself some eggs,” Kamala said, already heading upstairs. “Don’t be too loud!”

Devi heard the water turn on in the laundry room and felt better about at least one goal being accomplished. 

“Gimme your shittiest frying pan, I’ll make eggs,” Paxton said, washing his hands in the sink. 

“Why the shittiest pan?” Devi went digging through the cupboard to find the pan usually used for eggs and brought it out for him. 

“You gotta cook eggs in the worst pan, that makes them taste better.”

“You just made that up.”

“It’s a fact,” Paxton said confidently. “But like, don’t google it.” 

Devi laughed, pulling the eggs and milk out of the fridge and putting them on the counter for him. “I knew it.” 

By the time Trent’s hair was washed out, Paxton had finished making eggs and they all sat down to eat. Trent and Eleanor were acting like everything was normal. They weren’t even touching while sitting next to each other, just stiffly sitting, eating eggs.

“Your hair looks...reddish,” Devi offered. 

“Thanks!” 

“Next time, I think purple,” Eleanor said, almost to herself. 

“Let’s do your hair next time.” Trent looked at her excited. 

“I don’t know if you have the attention span to do my hair.” Eleanor put her fork down, got up, and walked to the couch. Trent shoveled a couple more bites before following her. 

McEnroe: Oh. And then they were making out again. I’m gonna duck out of this, I do not want to be here.

“Do we do that?” Paxton asked Devi, gathering the plates up. 

“No.” Devi handed him her plate. “We don’t just stop talking and makeout. Is this how they’re going to be now?”

“It’s probably because they’re drunk.”

“Here’s hoping,” Devi said. 

Paxton turned on the water to wash the dishes but Devi reached over him and turned it off. 

“It’s fine, Kamala can do them tomorrow.” 

Paxton looked at her. “That’s rude.”

“What, are you channeling her now?” Devi scoffed. 

Paxton turned and leaned against the sink, like Devi was, and saw Eleanor and Trent making out on the couch still. Eleanor pulled Trent’s shirt off.    
  
“Love a girl who knows what she wants!” they heard Trent say before Paxton took Devi’s hand and dragged her up the stairs. They raced into her room and shut the door. 

“Should I try to stop them?” Devi asked, leaning against her door. 

“They both looked consenting to me,” Paxton said, his body shook and he gagged a little. “Hearing about your friend’s conquests is fine. I don’t want to see it.”

Devi moved to turn her lamp on next to her bed and then flopped onto her bed. With her head resting on her hand, she patted the spot next to her and waggled her eyebrows at Paxton. 

“I cannot believe that works for me,” he said, moving to lay next to her. “It’s so cheesy and yet I’m here. I’m interested.” 

Devi laughed, softly. “I’m embarrassing and you think it’s hot anyway.” 

Paxton leaned in, their noses touching, hovering just barely away from her lips. “I do.” 

Devi didn’t wait for him, she closed the gap, crashing into his lips. He tasted like eggs but she didn’t care. He put his hand in her hair and she rolled easily to straddle him, her excitement building. Sex the first time was not great but it was getting better every time and she felt that familiar pull in her gut. Paxton had snaked his way up her dress so that he could feel the warm skin of her back. Devi rolled her hips and he groaned.    
  
“Not cool,” he whispered against her lips and Devi couldn’t help but smile. 

She liked the power that came with sex. It was fun to think that she could make Paxton react and she enjoyed that like this, in this situation, he was so easy to read. It was months of them being friends before she started to get a feel for how he responded to things and she’d catalogued things she did that he smiled at or things that annoyed him. But here, doing this, there was no problem figuring out what he was thinking. 

Paxton sat up, with her straddling him, but he hadn’t stopped kissing her at all, his lips still firmly planted on hers, nipping and tasting. He reached for the bottom of his shirt and only stopped kissing her to pull it over his head. She pushed against his bare chest and he went without complaint, back down on the bed.    
  
“Are you even aware,” she said, sitting up a little so he couldn’t kiss her, that your shoulders are like so hot? I didn’t even know shoulders could be defined like that!” Her hands pressed into the skin of his shoulders and he scoffed and smiled, a hand back in her hair to pull her down so he could kiss her again. 

“It’s the swimming,” he said, taking a second to kiss a spot under her ear, but very quickly navigating back to her lips. 

“No shit,” she said against his lips. Devi grinded down, feeling a little jolt of electricity roll through her. Paxton moaned and then, unexpectedly, rolled her over to his side and stopped kissing her. 

“Fuck!” He reached down and adjusted himself through his jeans. 

“What?” Devi asked, trying to get closer to him again. 

“We can’t have sex.” He cringed. “I don’t have a condom with me. They’re in the garage.” 

“You don’t carry those with you?” Devi asked, decidedly annoyed. 

“I have some in the Jeep but I’m not going down past Eleanor and Trent again, who knows what they’re doing by now?”

“C’mon!” Devi pouted and smacked his arm. Her skin felt hot and cold at the same time and she was frustrated. “Why didn’t you grab one when we got out of the car?”

“I was too busy focused on trying to get Trent out of the back. Remember? He wouldn’t move!” 

Devi thought for a second. But she was definitely leaning on her lizard brain when she started talking. “Let’s just, let’s do it anyways.” 

“No!” Paxton made a point of rolling even further away from her. 

“It’s not that big of a deal, it will be fine!” Devi tried but Paxton shook his head furiously. 

“You know what I have on a loop in my head? I have your mom.” 

“That’s gross.” 

“No, I have your mom saying ‘maybe they’ll let you keep a baby in your dorm room at Princeton’ so no!” 

“God, how do you even get it up with that going on in there,” Devi asked, horrified. 

Paxton scrunched up his face. “Usually, it’s not a problem because I have condoms and you do that thing where you kiss my jaw and your mom leaves but in this case no, nope. Can’t do it.” 

“You like it when I kiss your jaw?” Devi asked, her face softening. 

“I like it when you kiss me pretty much anywhere but yeah in particular that,” he said, scooting a little closer to her. 

She moved closer too, mirroring his position, laying on her side, her head on the pillow next to him. This time, Devi reached for his face and she kissed him slowly, just little touches of her lips against his, chaste and soft. 

“We don’t have to have sex, we can do other stuff,” Devi offered.    
  
Paxton closed his eyes and exhaled, slow and long. His hand slid up her thigh, he got to the seam of her underwear and stopped. He opened his eyes and barely shook his head. 

“Nah, your mom’s voice is still there.”    
  


“Okay, so she ruined that,” Devi said, rolling her eyes. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Not having sex. Yep. That was fine. Deep breaths. 

Paxton seemed to be doing the same. He moved his hand from under her dress and rested on top of the fabric of her dress this time. He even yawned which Devi tried not to think of as him being bored of her. It was late. 

  
“Hey, are you gonna get in trouble for not coming home?”

“My mom has sleep apnea and my dad can’t sleep with the CPAP machine noises so he takes an Ambien. As long as I’m home before 7AM when he wakes up, I’m good.” 

He kissed her nose and rolled over to dig his phone out of his pocket. He set a timer for three hours and reached over Devi to put it on her bedside table. 

“Why does your dad get up at 7AM on Saturday?”

Paxton put a hand on her lower back and pulled her a little closer, so he could put a leg between hers, just to be closer to her. 

“Because he’s a weirdo who likes to,” Paxton explained. “At least he doesn't make us get up early anymore. He used to drag Becca and I up with him and make us help him in the yard but he gave up on that a while ago, thank god.” 

“My dad loved working in the yard and he’d always have me help but it seemed,” Devi paused, looking for the right word. “It was like Devi and Dad time, it was nice, it made me feel important.” 

Paxton reached for her leg, just a little above the hem of her dress, and just touched her, waiting for her to continue, just offering a grounding touch while she talked about her dad.    
  
“Sounds like your dad was really kind.”    
  
“He was.” 

A different familiar feeling started to fill her body, but she pushed it down. Not now. Devi rolled over, away from Paxton, his hand didn’t move from her though, he just pulled her closer with his hand on her stomach. She felt him nuzzle her neck, letting his lips rest on her skin.    
  
The gesture did not help her push those pesky sad feelings down. Instead, she felt overwhelmed now with how kind and tender Paxton was treating her now. Not like she was fragile, but like she was precious and he wanted to make sure she felt supported. She took a deep breath and tried to think about something else. 

“Dr. Ryan was like ‘do you think you want to get back in a swimming pool to be closer to Paxton’ and I was like that is so dumb, what kind of dumb shit, why would she say something stupid like that?” 

“You talk about me in therapy?” He had a lilt to his voice, like he was trying not to laugh. “What do you say about me?”

“I say, let’s focus on talking about my dead dad issues and not my boyfriend,” Devi said but then stopped. “Well no, I say your name because I don’t want my therapist to know we’re dating because she might tell my mom and then we’re fucked.” 

Paxton laughed against her skin and she thought about that thing from last week where she felt like she might love him. That feeling kept coming up and she kept burying it because Devi was not about to examine it. 

“That thing that Eleanor said…” Paxton interrupted her deep thoughts on avoiding feelings and Devi froze. She definitely didn’t want to talk about the thing Eleanor said. “The thing about we’re not gonna be dating the same people forever?” 

Devi felt a lump in her throat now. What was he doing? Was he gonna dump her right here? Snuggled all intimately like  _ Grey’s Anatomy _ episode? Oh god. 

“I know she’s right but I hate it,” he said, tentatively, like he was still figuring it out himself. Devi let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. That was fine. That was how she felt, too.    
  
“Yeah, like geez Eleanor, let us live,” Devi added. “But she gets like, so much more dramatic when she’s going through something so what if I just never think about what she said, ever again?”

Paxton’s hand tightened on her stomach and he kissed the back of her neck again. 

“I like the way you think, Vishwakumar.” 


End file.
